Mohan Menon Disha Global Trust, Kochi, India B. Phalachandra Wawasan Open University

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2. A Study on Cost-Efficiency
and Quality of OER Integrated
Course Materials
Mohan Menon
Disha Global Trust, Kochi, India
mohanbmenon@gmail.com
B. Phalachandra
Wawasan Open University
bphala@gmail.com
OE Global Conference 2017
Cape Town
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3. A Study on the Processes of
OER Integration
for Course Development
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This is one of the sub-projects under a larger research
project called Research on Open Educational Resources
for Development (ROER4D), coordinated by the University
of Cape Town and undertaken as part of the grant received
from IDRC of Canada by WOU.
This paper is based on the findings of
Sub-Project 7 – Action research study of teacher
educators – Malaysia and India

4. Research Team
Members of the Sub-Project Research Team:
l Mohan Menon
l Phalachandra B.
l Jasmine Emmanuel
l Chng Lay Kee
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PROJECT IMPLEMENTED WITH
COOPERATION OF SEVERAL
INSTITUTIONS AND ACADEMICS IN
MALAYSIA, INDIA AND SRI LANKA

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Present Study
l Most work being done in the OER movement involves
creation of OER with less focus on reuse of OER
l The study probes the operational processes involved
in course development using available online multi-
media OER materials for a 5-credit (200 hours study)
course on ‘Research Methodology in Education’
involving course developers from Malaysia and India.
l Findings of this study have provided some tentative
answers regarding the reuse of OER materials for
developing quality assured self-instructional materials.

7. Research Questions
This Paper presents only the part of the study
focussing on the following two Research Questions:
1. Will course materials developed by integrating
OER be more cost-efficient?
2. Will the use of OER integrated course materials
expected to be of high quality from learners’
perspective?
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Definition of variables
1. ‘Cost/Time Efficiency’: relates to a comparison of
what is actually produced or performed (OER-
integrated course development) with what can be
achieved with the same consumption of resources
in terms of money and time.
2. ‘Quality of learning materials’: Quality can be
defined as ‘appropriately meeting the stakeholders’
objectives and needs which is the result of a
transparent, participatory negotiation process within
an organization’ (Pawlowski, 2007).

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OER Practice
Engagement of OER search team, course developers and learners
Reuse and
Integration process
OUTCOMES
& OUTPUTS
w Re-usability Digitised OER
Materials
Course Package
Tool on OER Quality
QUALITY
PROCESS Findability &
Reusability Factors
IMPACT
COST EFFICIENCY
CONCEPTUAL
FRAMEWORK

10. Methodology
l In this project the exploratory case
study approach was adopted to
understand and critically reflect on the factors
and processes involved in the integration of
OER material in developing a new set of course
materials.
l MIXED METHODS APPROACH- Qualitative
and Quantitative
l A variety of Research Tools used
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11. Nature of Data
and
Data Source
l Both Qualitative and Quantitative data
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VARIABLE DATA SOURCE AND COLLECTION
PROCESS
COST/TIME
EFFICIENCY
From the course developers before, during
and after their engagement in Course
writing
Quality of
Learning
materials
From Course users after learning through
sample units of the OER integrated course

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Research Tools
Variable Tools
Cost/Time
efficiency
v Search log
v Course development LOG
v Written Format for individual reflection on
OER use
v Narratives by course developers
v Focus group discussions
v Individual Reflection Questions
v Semi-structured interviews
Quality of
Learning
Materials
v Course development LOG
v Individual Reflection Questions

13. Data Analysis
and Intrepretation
l On the part of COURSE DEVELOPERS
l A triangulation of findings from the content
analysis and coding of the reflections and
observations of the OER search team and
course developers in the focus group
discussions, interviews as well as diary
recordings and their written log records and
findability ratings was carried out.
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14. COST/TIME EFFICIENCY
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15. FINDABILITY
Time taken
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FINDABILITY
TIME
No of
Resources
Percentage
Less than 10
minutes
75 31.65
10 minutes 58 24.47
15 minutes 38 16.03
20 minutes 35 14.77
25 minutes 6 2.53
30 minutes 24 10.13
More than 30
minutes
1 0.42
TOTAL 237

16. Cost-Efficiency
l Course Developers had expressed their thinking
about cost-efficiency based on their experience of
finding and reusing and integrating OER for course
development.
l When a large chunk of OER text materials (such as an
open book or an entire course) are available in
advance it became easier and less time consuming to
use these materials and contextulise/localise them.
l Using a large number of smaller reusable learning
objects (RLOs) took more time.
l Expertise in 7 competencies including 5 core
competencies and 2 supportive competencies emerged
in the study enhanced the cost efficiency of OER based
course development
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17. Cost-Efficiency
l When OER materials are collected in advance
for each concept or section of the modules
by experienced and competent persons, the
course writers took less time to integrate
l The search team reported that over 80% of
relevant OER materials could be searched,
discovered and down loaded within 20
minutes in each case, of which over 55 %
took only less than 10 minutes.
l There is a general agreement among course
developers that using OER enhanced the
quality of the course produced in several
ways
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18. QUALITY OF COURSE MATERIALS
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19. Quality Assessment Tool
• The quality of the course materials was assessed through a five
point (Strongly Agree to Strongly Disagree )
• Rating scale consisted of 7 dimensions and 38 items .
• The seven dimensions are : Format and presentation, Language
and communication, Self-learning Interactivity, Inclusiveness ,
Resources ,Assessment.
• The scale was administered after the participants went through
few units of Research Methodology Modules in a series
workshops held in Sri Lanka, India and Malaysia
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20. OER Quality Assessment Scale
(OER-QAS)
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Component No of
Items
Total
Score
possible
Mean SD
Format and Presentation 20 4 14.12 4.54
Language and Communication 30 6 23.22 3.18
Self-Learning 45 9 34.65 5.01
Interactivity 25 5 17.45 4.72
Inclusiveness 20 4 14.89 3.20
Resources 20 4 15.14 3.60
Assessment 30 6 21.79 4.93
Total 190 38 141.11 25.83

22. Findings
t test results (for entire scale)
N Mean Standard
deviation
t p
Female 64 140.61 26.66 0.27 0.78
Male 28 142.25 24.77
t test results (for entire scale)
N Mean Standard
deviation
t p
Educators 49 135.57 29.72 2.42* 0.02
Students 38 148.37 19.31
Comparison of responses across gender
Comparison of responses across participants
* Significant at 0.05 level

23. Findings
• The overall quality ratings of course materials is high.
• All participants found the course material to be of high
quality. This is also indicated with respect to different
in dimensions of the scale.
• While both female and male participants showed
similar quality rating, the trainees group showed
higher quality rating as compared to the educators.
• It is logical to think that the educators would have
higher expectations of quality than the teacher
trainees.

24. CONCLUSION
l Reuse processes are being studied for the first
time in Asia and dimensions included in the
study are being studied for the first time.
l The findings are tentative as this is an
exploratory case study
l Open up a number of studies-Several
Hypothesis emerged for further study
l Impact on Learning to be studied
l Second part of the Study – presented in another
paper
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25. Contact details
of Authors
Mohan Menon
DISHA Global Trust, Kochi, INDIA
mohanbmenon@gmail.com
Phalachandra Bhandigadi
Wawasan Open University, Penang, MALAYSIA
bphala@gmail.com
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26. THANKS
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Authors would like to thank the ROER4D Team
and IDRC for the support and funding
Authors also would like to thank the Research
Team members of Sub-Project -7.
This presentation is released under
CC-BY-SA
open licence